Facts

Paras Joshi is a Law Student, Blogger, Mentalist and a traveller, called ‘Christopher Paolini of the East’ by those who know him, started writing early at the age of 12. An avid reader, currently in 4th year of University School of Law and Legal Studies.

Fantastic Five – Five of my favourite books

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – JK Rowling This one takes the cake. Not only because, according to me, this was the best in the series, but also because JKR was at her best when writing this. From the swish in the stomach, when Harry catches the snitch to finally win the Quidditch Cup to the profound sympathy you feel for the tortured soul of Sirius Black.

The Partner – John Grisham For introducing me to the fascinating world of legal thrillers. With plenty of twists and turns right till the end, Grisham bowls you over with his deft handling of such a complex plot. If, and when, I venture into this genre (which I plan to after the Avaasya Trilogy) it’ll only be because of this master story teller.

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini He has a strange poetic beauty in his writing. This novel leaves you amazed and heartbroken in equal measure. This is one book that has had the most profound impact on my writing style over the years, in terms of making it more mature and subtle, with just the right amount of emotion.

The Godfather – Mario Puzo For making me fall in love with Crime Novels. The ultimate benchmark, when it comes to writing anything that has gangsters and deft manoeuvres and one-upmanship. Again, one of my inspirations.

Face-to-face

Tell us about your earliest attempts at writing. When, where and from whom did you learn the nittygritties of writing?

Now that I look back at it, I think I’ve been writing since forever. The earliest ‘novel’ I remember writing was way back in 2004 probably, when I was only in class 4. I called it ‘Emilio Esparada and the Sword of Life.’ I think I have always been in love with the idea of having a world of my own, where I can do anything I want.

Where do the ideas for your books come from?

Mostly they are a result of a Eureka! Moment.

I’m doing something, and all of a sudden I get this wonderful idea for a story, and before I know, everything is there in my mind. Like right now, I have a couple of fully formed ideas in my mind I am going to start working on, as soon as I wrap up the last novel in the trilogy.

What does your typical writing day look like?

When I’m writing, I write through the night. So the day is spent figuring out the way ahead, and the nights are spent writing exactly the opposite of what I initially had in my mind haha.

What is one habit / trait of yours that makes you effective / productive as an author?

I let my characters decide their own destinies.

Even when I’ve everything planned out, more often than not, I end up deviating from it, because the characters have something more interesting up their sleeves.

What is the one thing that you recommend every aspiring author should do?

Read. Read as much as you can. It sounds pretty clichéd.

But being an author is 30% imagination, 20% writing and 50% reading.

The more you read, the more you develop as a person, the more your horizons widen, and you develop the ability to analyse major plot lines from a lot of different angles. Not only that, your own style of writing undergoes a positive change.

Tell us something about yourself that very few people know?

I’m a narcissist 😛

Does technology (the Internet, software tools) help you in your writing process?If yes, can you tell us about them?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, the kind of genres I deal with, or plan to deal with later in life involve some kind of research. For instance, while writing Avaasya Trilogy, I spent a lot of time researching on ancient Indian society to figure how can I include its functioning in my book.

Is there any other way in which technology can help you in your work as writer?

I don’t think there’s a strait-jacket formula or a thumb rule, and most probably, it differs from person to person. I mostly use technology to research, and then to market my work more effectively.

What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others? (include websites, blogs or Twitter profiles, etc).

A lot, actually. I have a habit of observing people critically, so almost everyone I come across adds something to my thought process. Having said that, the major influences have been Khaled Hosseini, John Grisham, Ken Follett and the Bhagvad Gita.

Can you tell about what you are currently writing and other works in the pipeline?

Right now, I’m tied up with the second book, which I hope would be out in the market by December at the latest. Once I’ve wrapped up the trilogy, there are two ideas in my mind I’m planning to develop further.

Are you called the “Paolini of the east”? How did this name happen?

The first time I met my agent, Anuj Bahri, back in 2011, he told me I remind him a lot of Christopher Paolini in terms of the writing style and the fact that we both started out so young, and dabbled with YA fantasy. So he said, ‘You’re the Christopher Paolini of the East’, and the name stuck.

Your book is an eclectic mix of science, mythology and fantasy. But, you are a law student. How is it that your book is not about law? Can we expect a legal thriller soon?

I started working on Equilibrium way back in 2010, when I was still a student of class 10. Back then I was more into YA, science fiction, fantasy and the like. Law happened much later. But like I said, a legal thriller is something that’s definitely happening in the next couple of years.

Just in jest, how does it feel when people praise the book for your age than talking about its content?

Haha, in fact this is the first time I noticed it. I guess any kind of appreciation helps a lot, and the fact that a sixteen year old could come up with an idea for a trilogy is a daunting one? So probably that’s why the focus has been more on the book 😛